Laos is a “wild” country, representing a different way to travel and relate to nature. If you’re about to depart for Laos, then you know that, despite having a rather wild reputation, you can easily get a visa directly on arrival at one of the land border posts, or upon arriving at the airport.

I’ll say that this is the good news. If however you intend to stay in Laos for more than fifteen days, you’ll need a tourist visa.

General advice for finding cheap flights

The price of flights varies in such a way that it often seems arbitrary. There are many studies that try to predict ticket price trends. Below, I detail some of the main conclusions of these studies, which will let you save money when purchasing plane tickets:[Read more…]

Disclaimer: At SDC we make a daily effort to find, select and evaluate the best services and products for you. In addition, we always try to get in contact with the companies we recommend so that our readers can enjoy exclusive discounts. Below, you will find a wide selection of discounts and offers for the products and services that we suggest.

Banknotes seem destined to disappear in China: we’ve gotten to the point where even taxi drivers have begun refusing crumpled 10 Yuan bills at the end of a ride and shopkeepers raise their eyebrows as soon as you take out a 100 Yuan banknote because they don’t have enough change to give you the rest.

The holding Alibaba Group is made up of various companies that operate in the electronic commerce sector: one of the first “children” of this large company was the online shopping platform Taobao, later Alipay was created, which was born from the need to give Taobao users a safe and practical method for making payments on this platform.

Entrepreneur Jack Ma, the firm’s founder, was already placed in Time magazine’s 100 most influential men in the world, and is the second richest person in China as well as the thirty-ninth richest in the world. A few years after creating the Alibaba Group, Jack Ma described his company as “the crocodile of the Yangzi River”, a strong winner in China, but still too insecure to extend its success beyond its own waters into the vast ocean of the West. [Read more…]

This article is a fairly complete guide to getting a Chinese VISA in Hong Kong or doing a VISA run (in the event that you have a multiple-entry VISA and need to leave China every thirty or sixty days) while spending the smallest possible amount of time and money.

The first part of this article explains what a VPN is and how it can be used to access Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube and other websites that are currently blocked in China.

The second part is a comparative review of ExpressVPN, VyprVPN and NordVPN, in our opinion one of the best three VPN providers for China. We compare the prices, functionality and performance of the three VPNs. On top of that, you will find multiple sections to help you evaluate and optimize your VPN, short reviews of some of the most popular VPNs and in general which types of websites are blocked in China.

The last section is a list of frequently asked questions on VPN use in China and blocked websites.

Important: Due to the increased restrictions to VPNs which came into effect in October 2017, you should always keep your VPN updated in order to make sure it works at its best.

What is a VPN and why do I need one in China?

As you probably already know, the internet doesn’t work like we would like it to in China and a large number of websites are blocked by the “Great Firewall.” Among the websites that you can’t access there are Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Twitter and Google+.

There are many other blocked websites, and depending on what you do, it may be virtually impossible for you to work in China without a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The most striking case is probably that of Google.com, which often returns an error message when used from within the Middle Kingdom.

But there is still hope…

In order to solve this problem, you can install a VPN, which masks your I.P. address so that your laptop appears to be connected from the U.S. or Japan even if you are in China.

Why do I need a VPN in Thailand?

There are multiple reasons to get a VPN when you are living or traveling in Thailand. Below are the most common reasons.

To browse securely: Access to the internet in Thailand, just like in many Asian countries, is not exactly secure. A good VPN increases internet security and greatly reduces the possible risks involved in connecting to public networks in this country (such as having your credit card cloned or your email hacked).

To avoid censorship: Censorship exists in Thailand, and if you want free access to the internet, the best way is to get a VPN

To unblock restricted content: To access the content of websites like Netflix, Hulu or restricted audiovisual content and TV channels in your country, your best option is always get a good quality VPN.

This article, a complete guide to visit the Everest North Base Camp, was written by Harley Greenberg, who arrived in China in 2008 as a Peace Corps Volunteer. When not teaching he would always crisscross the country and his first visit to Tibet was in 2009. Today Harley is a manager at WindHorseTour.